A/N: I just rewatched the whole Hobbit series and oh, as always-my heart.
Peace is by far the kindest thing about a tomb.
Bilbo sits amid that peace until it chokes him, until the weight of silence is too much and he must go. How many thousand times, he might have begged to turn his back on quest and company.
How many thousand times has he shut his eyes, and wished that death could be turned back again.
.
When Bilbo goes, he does so without ceremony. He is a friend known by all who still live, and he hears the rumors that flock round the mountain, round Dale. He knows that Bard will be crowned and he knows that Dis is coming to mourn her sons.
He stays for none of it.
Bard, he bids farewell in private
Dis, he cannot bring himself to meet. He feels sure that she will care nothing for new faces.
.
He stands by the tombs one last time, and reminds himself that peace must be fought for.
(And they fought, and fell, to lay forever in the calm and quiet that they had never wished for themselves.)
If it is a waste to burn lives as offerings, to crown a lesser king, naught is said of it.
Legends must be honored.
And Bilbo knew few legends before this journey, and seeks none afterwards. He only wants home and friendship, but he does not know how much one can be without the other, or how much of either remains.
In the end, he too may settle for peace.